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As you grow, so do they. As your life changes, so does theirs. Each year brings you heartbreak or adventure or a new job or a trip across the country or some kind of change, and each year brings your life a little farther from theirs. But don’t let it.

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Dementia, in a weird and somehow paralleled way, is a huge metaphor for life. The cryptic lessons that dementia taught you bring you back to the most basic building blocks of humanity. Life is messy and hard and nonsensical, but love is the only thing that makes sense of it all.

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He doesn’t just make you feel comfortable.

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When life throws obstacles in our path, attempts to distance us and tries its damnedest to convince us we won’t make it, please believe that we will and never doubt that I love you.

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I cherish your big, strong arms. The arms that hold me up. The arms that shelter me, that make me invincible.

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My future, once laid out like a colorful map on a child’s restaurant placemat, is now as muddy and dirty as the face of a world-weary hobo. I am in a swimming pool that is lit by youth. I am weary, I am old, I am sailing on a boat made of newspaper, and like the medium itself, I am sinking.

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It’s a natural thing to, as you grow older, feel calmer. This is not to say you’ll feel relaxed about your life, but you’ll be, in a deep way, calmer.

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17. Forgive but never forget.

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I just wanted to share some things I’ve learned throughout my 27 years. Most things I’ve learned the hard way, but hopefully that just makes my future easier.

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Sleeps with one eye open, scaring nearby children.